diff --git a/drivers/mmc/host/sdhci.c b/drivers/mmc/host/sdhci.c
index 62041c7e9246..fc96f8cb9c0b 100644
--- a/drivers/mmc/host/sdhci.c
+++ b/drivers/mmc/host/sdhci.c
@@ -773,8 +773,14 @@ static void sdhci_prepare_data(struct sdhci_host *host, struct mmc_data *data)
 	}
 
 	if (!(host->flags & SDHCI_REQ_USE_DMA)) {
-		sg_miter_start(&host->sg_miter,
-			data->sg, data->sg_len, SG_MITER_ATOMIC);
+		int flags;
+
+		flags = SG_MITER_ATOMIC;
+		if (host->data->flags & MMC_DATA_READ)
+			flags |= SG_MITER_TO_SG;
+		else
+			flags |= SG_MITER_FROM_SG;
+		sg_miter_start(&host->sg_miter, data->sg, data->sg_len, flags);
 		host->blocks = data->blocks;
 	}